Matt Birney

As it marches towards production start-up at the rapidly developing $120 million Warrawoona gold mine in WA’s East Pilbara, ASX-listed Calidus Resources has identified a veritable treasure trove of regional gold targets as part of a strategy to accelerate exploration work over the company’s Pilbara tenure in parallel with the project build.

King River Resources program of metallurgical test work has hit upon a simplified purification process to produce a high-purity precursor compound to streamline the manufacture of a 4N HPA end product. The test work forms part of the company’s PFS over its giant Speewah speciality metals project in WA’s Kimberley region.

ASX-listed 3D metal printing group, Aurora Labs, has been granted another patent for a key part of its Multi-Layer Concurrent Printing, or “MCP” technology, this time in Japan. Only last month the Perth-based company locked down a patent in China, while patent applications in other countries, including in the USA and Australia, are also at various stages of their respective approval processes.

ASX-listed InteliCare has achieved a significant milestone in its business-to-consumer strategy to expand its revenue streams in the aged-care and healthcare sectors following the launch of a new online platform and e-commerce marketplace that provides an internet-based mechanism for family members to monitor the wellbeing of their elderly or health-compromised loved ones.

Canadian focused gold explorer, Ardiden Limited, has lit up an array of large-scale structural targets around its New Patricia gold prospect in north-western Ontario following an initial review of its freshly acquired airborne magnetic and radiometric geophysical data. The data includes its Esker prospect which is being likened by Ardiden to Newmont’s 5Moz operating Musselwhite gold mine.

Comet Resources has wasted no time at its Santa Teresa gold project in Mexico, unveiling a high-grade maiden resource for the project, tipping the scales with 369,000 tonnes at an impressive 7.47 g/t gold. This initial estimate perhaps understates the potential of the deposit which hosts a wealth of high-grade intercepts and has only been drilled to 300m depth.

ASX-listed high purity alumina player, Altech Chemicals, has received a commitment for a €7.38 million grant from the state Government of Saxony in Germany towards the potential development of a HPA plant in the east German state. It comes after the company recently signed an option agreement to purchase approximately 10 hectares of industrial land in the Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park in the Spreetal municipality of Saxony.

Troy Resources has hit the jackpot with a four-ounce-to-the-tonne gold hit in its latest diamond drill hole at the Smarts Underground deposit at its operating, million-ounce, Karouni gold project in Guyana, South America. In just one of 16 hits in the 449m deep drill hole, the company returned 11m at 131.93 g/t gold from 223m, including 1m at an ‘off-the-chart’ 1,176.99 g/t gold.

ASX-listed K2fly continues to build momentum with the "software-as-a-service" company’s invoicing building to in excess of $1.64m across the first quarter of the financial year, up 15 per cent on the previous corresponding quarter. The company is riding high on the back of a stream of new client signings seeking access to K2fly’s specialised land management and mining software.

Hot Chili has unveiled a massive new resource for its Costa Fuego project in Chile, with the company’s inventory in South America skyrocketing to a headline-grabbing 724 million tonnes at 0.48 per cent copper equivalent. The global resource now hosts an incredible 2.9 million tonnes of copper, 2.7 million ounces of gold and 9.9 million ounces of silver. These numbers are set to grow even further in the coming months as drilling continues across the fertile copper terrane.

ASX-listed Horizon Minerals has added 200,000-plus resource ounces to its global gold inventory within trucking distance of the company’s Boorara gold project 10km east of Kalgoorlie that is already teeming with satellite deposits. The Perth-based gold producer has picked up the potentially lucrative historic Kalpini project from private syndicate, NBT Metals, for only $2.75 million in cash.

ASX-listed budding manganese producer, Element 25, has ticked off two more elements that are crucial to the extremely low CAPEX development of its Butcherbird manganese mine in the Pilbara. The company is now firmly on course to achieve its production start-up target date of February next year after securing commitments totalling almost $10 million for a capital raise and signing up OM Holdings as its preferred offtake partner.

Eclipse Metals has now completed its second phase of drilling at the Amamoor manganese prospect in Queensland, with manganese mineralisation intersected in every drill hole of the program. The successful program has now wrapped up with a bevy of samples dispatched to the laboratory for assay.

ASX-listed Proteomics International has published the findings of a major international, multi-centre clinical study involving more than 3,500 patients which provides the first-ever external support for the efficacy of its PromarkerD diagnostic test. Extraordinarily, patients identified by PromarkerD were 13.5 times more likely to develop Chronic Kidney Disease during a 4-year period.

Terrain Minerals has lit a fire under its Smokebush gold project revealing a swag of high-grade gold hits, with first-pass drilling at the Monza prospect producing a number of impressive intercepts including 4m at 4.46 g/t gold with 1m at 10.3 g/t gold from only 51m down-hole.

AVZ Minerals is drilling below the Roche Dure pit floor at its giant Manono lithium and tin project in the Democratic Republic of Congo hoping to upgrade a portion of the pegmatite ore to an indicated from inferred mineral resource category, where previous drilling had defined more than 400Mt of potential ore at a startling grade of 1.65 per cent lithium oxide.

PolarX continues to grow its Zackly copper-gold discovery in Alaska with drilling outside the main resource area intersecting broad zones of gold-rich mineralisation including 24.5m at 1.24 g/t gold and 0.6 per cent copper which also hosts a higher-grade core of 11.2m at 2.45 g/t gold and 1.1 per cent copper from only 52.6m down-hole with further results expected in the coming weeks.

ASX-listed Horizon Minerals, sitting on around $22m in cash and investments is progressing trial mining at its flagship low-grade open pit mine Boorara gold mine which has already turned some initial ore into cold hard cash. Horizon said it is now aspiring to join the ranks of mid-tier gold producers via its core gold ground scattered around Kalgoorlie’s super pit.

Budding WA gold producer, Ora Banda Mining, has delivered a maiden mineral resource estimate for the Riverina South prospect as it prepares to start mining at the nearby Riverina open pit this month as part of its $45 million Davyhurst gold redevelopment 120km north-west of Kalgoorlie. After an extensive drilling program, the company released an initial resource for Riverina South of 650,000 tonnes at 2.1 g/t for 43,000oz of contained gold.

Novel clinical diagnostics developer, Proteomics International has teamed up with the QMIR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Queensland to improve and simplify the detection of oesophageal adenocarcinoma, the most common form of oesophageal cancer. Proteomics will use its trademarked Promarker platform with QIMR Berghofer’s biomarkers to develop a simple blood test for the cancer, whose incidence is on the rise.

The proposed multibillion-dollar merger between Kalgoorlie Super Pit owners Northern Star Resources and Saracen Mineral Holdings might be the talk of the town at next week’s Diggers & Dealers conference but gold junior and budding developer, Middle Island Resources, has been consistently kicking goals at its historic Sandstone gold project in WA during a massive two-phase, 50,000m-plus drilling campaign this year.

White Cliff Minerals has secured a strategic position in the multi-million-ounce Murchison goldfield of WA, joining a growing rush of explorers looking to stake their claim in the resurgent gold mining terrane. The company has completed the acquisition of the Reedy South project stamping its foot on over 156 square kilometres of auriferous tenure adjacent to the Reedy’s gold mine.

Paydirt Media has kept the ball rolling in Australia’s resurgent mining sector conference circuit, this week hosting the Australian Nickel Conference at Perth’s Pan Pacific Hotel. The conference held on Tuesday 6 October 2020, was a showcase of who’s who in the nickel sector highlighting a string of projects across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

Barton Gold is striking up the banjos as deep drilling of its ‘Deliverance’ target continues to return auriferous results. The company’s drilling program below its Perseverance open pit at Tarcoola is rapidly outlining a large mineralised system, that not only remains open along strike but also seemingly continues to a significant depth.

Terrain Minerals continues to kick goals across its auriferous project area’s in WA with recent sampling smoking out a series of high-grade gold samples from the Murchison region, north of Perth. Rock chip and surface sampling along strike from the recent drilling over the Smokebush project has returned a string of gold-rich results weighing in at up to an astounding 100 g/t gold.

ASX and London-listed aspiring project developer, Adriatic Metals, has completed an all-scrip acquisition to the value of approximately C$15 million of fellow Balkans precious and base metals player Tethyan Resource Corp. The merged group will subsequently have an expanded footprint in two mining-friendly jurisdictions in the region as it looks to step up exploration and feasibility study activities.

Oakdale Resources’ shares have been on a tear of late after the company joined the hunt for the next Julimar and quickly identified a bevy of targets across its Crown nickel-PGE project in Western Australia. The new project is a just stone’s throw away from Chalice Gold Mines’ headline-grabbing discovery, located a mere 9km to the east of Julimar delivering Oakdale a prime position in this emerging nickel terrane.

Infinity Lithium continues to bolster its board of directors following the appointment of lithium guru Jon Starink. The well-credentialed Starink comes to the company following stints in both mining consultancy and the finance sector – Starink also brings with him a wealth of experience in the development and operation of hard-rock lithium mining and processing operations.

Venus Metals Corporation and joint venture partner, Rox Resources, have continued their golden plunder across the Youanmi terrane in WA, with the resurgent mining centre continuing to return a swag of gold intercepts for the duo including 4m at 15.95 g/t gold from a new discovery zone 3km north of the mine site.

Novo Resources could be on the verge of a substantial upgrade to its existing resource inventory after its development program across the Beatons Creek conglomerate gold deposits identified previously unrecognised extensions to the near-surface auriferous, sedimentary units. The host conglomerate units have been mapped and sampled over an additional 1,600m of strike, with initial assays averaging over 2.5 g/t gold and remain open along strike.

ASX-listed Aruma Resources has agreed to sell its Slate Dam gold project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields to its neighbour and ASX-listed gold hopeful, Black Cat Syndicate, for $500,000 cash, with the deposit of $50,000 already paid and the balance due on settlement. Also included in the transaction are the Trojan gold resource and Clinker Hill projects.

ASX-listed West Africa gold hopeful, Mako Gold, has put the second tranche of an oversubscribed $10 million capital raise to bed as it cranks up an exploration blitz at the Tchaga prospect at its exciting joint-ventured Napie gold project in Cote d’Ivoire.